Countless flooded Filipinos put in despair due to the irresponsible former President

In November 2010 former President Noynoy
Aquino was hacked out in one of the country’s most ambitious flood-control
projects that was planned to begin that year. It would have been done a month
ago and would even completely toned-down the terrible flooding if he did not
dropped that point of innovative responsibility. The venture was to be started
by the Baagerwerken Decloedt En Zoon (BDZ) a 150-year-old Belgian digging firm
and financed by a credit from the BNP Paribas Fortis Bank; with Brussels giving
a P7 million funding, it is the highest development assistance that would have
given to the Philippines ever.

Photo from Bagyo Maring | Flood. Image credit to www.bagyo.ph

The Laguna Lake Rehabilitation Project was
the mission which as a portion of its proposal to protect the lake would
require a dug up of 4.6 million cubic meters of residue and waste and so it
will cover more floodwaters. The venture would have additionally included the
extending of the dangerous 7km Napindan Channel in Taytay, with its goal of
bettering and rapidly drawing floodwaters far from the city to the lake.

A passionate supporter of the venture
Laguna Governor Jorge Ejercito, in September 2010 he summed up the point of the
intended substantial digging. “A much deeper Laguna de Bay would relieve
residents of Metro Manila, Rizal and Laguna of the flooding that happened at
the height of [Tropical Storm] ‘Ondoy’ and [Typhoon] ‘Pepeng’.”

What is the reason of Mr. Aquino for cancelling the crucial project? It is due to his unreasonable enraged predisposition his ancestor did or deliberated was fraudulent. He guaranteed that the venture was a “midnight” dishonest arrangement through President Gloria Arroyo’s management.

Aquino assures flood victims: You are not alone. Image and caption credit to

Inquirer News

In 2010, the Laguna governor said angrily that “They have been trumpeting that
corruption tainted the project.” “But where is their evidence? Just to find
fault in the past administration, Laguna residents will be at the receiving end
of their vengeful politics.” Up to present, Mr. Aquino has not yet presented a
bit of proof or any précis charge of fraud in the said project.

Then again, at that point Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme vouched for the
venture’s honor, and even submitted to Mr. Aquino an autonomous engineering
company's assessment of the project. And in March 2011, Leterme wrote in a
letter to Mr. Aquino that “As I understand from the report of this expert, which
is enclosed, the project can be an undeniable improvement for the Metro Manila
area and alleviate flooding, improve local transport infrastructure and
increase water capacity.”

To enable the Belgian contractor to answer
the charges against the project, the present secretary general of the
Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, Leterme appealed to Mr.
Aquino. Rather, he increases his insult against the venture saying that as of
last week the project was a “big joke” since it would “just dump silt to be
recovered to another portion of the lake.”

The project was plainly determined that the
dredged material will be dropped in assigned sites off Taytay-Angono and San
Pedro which is certainly would wind up recovered land where waste-water treatment
would be constructed, therefore, it is a complete lie.For three years, seven government divisions, agencies and interdepartmental bodies assessed the project and in 2010 they supported it for immediate execution. Amando Tetangco Jr. the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor said that in his endorsement of the venture’s foreign funding, : “Its purpose is to improve the Lake’s capacity as a catch basin to reduce flooding in nearby towns and cities.” Mr. Aquino’s Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, in her August 2010 legal opinion, found nothing wrong with it: “The project cannot be construed as a midnight deal since it is covered by official development assistance from the Belgian government.” The one that Mr. Aquino appointed as the Laguna Lake Development Authority general manager supported it and was dismissed for that.

Flooded Filipinos in Marikina City during typhoon Ondoy. Image credit to Phil News

The Lake’s fish pen operators, environmentalist NGOs, and most of the political authority of towns in Laguna de Bay enthusiastically pushed for the endeavor, as it would stop the lake's natural disintegration and prompt the change of the lakeshore into an advanced region with fish ports, ship terminals, and marina facilities.

Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas. Image credit to www.RigobertoTiglao.com

Besides Mr. Aquino and Senator Drilon who
guarantees that "digging is a rich wellspring of debasement.”The fundamental resistance to the task
originated from Pamalakaya, the communists' agitprop group for fishermen’s
issues, an individual from Communist Party originated by Jose Ma. Sison, an
International League of Peoples' Struggle.

What made the story worse? Due to Mr.
Aquino’s carelessness, one-sided wiping out of the project, P6 billions of
taxpayer’s money could be lost. The government needs to pay before the end of
this month and the P420 million penalties for the withdrawal of the bank loan.

The huge charge however would be the P4
billion to be paid to the Belgian contractual contractor if it wins the suit it
petitioned for Mr. Aquino's wiping out of the project at the World Bank's
International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Government's legitimate costs would sum,
passing by its Fraport case in a similar setting, to at any rate P2 billion.
The judges for the debate were assigned last Feb. 29, and the case formally
began on June 25.

Cancelling the crucial flood-control
project will go down in our country’s history as the nation’s most tragic and
shameful episode in which billions of pesos in taxpayer’s money were wasted,
several lives were taken, and countless flooded Filipinos put in despair due to
the irresponsible ill-will of a President toward his antecedent.

****

Dear avid readers, what do you think of this article? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.